Charles Ives was born in 1874 into a tradition of band music. His
father, George, had been a respected bandmaster in the Union Army during
the Civil War and was Danbury, Connecticut’s leader of numerous amateur
musical groups. Charles was taught to play the drum, cornet, piano, and
violin by his father and played in his father’s band at the age of 12.
At 13, he was composing simple marches and fiddle tunes. He became the
youngest salaried church organist in Connecticut at the age of 14. He
studied composition with Horatio Parker at Yale, where he made barely
passing grades in his subjects other than music. In 1898, he went to New
York to work for the Mutual Life Insurance Company. He formed an
insurance business with Julian Myrik in 1902 and saw the business
prosper with his innovations (e.g., estate planning). A successful
business man by day, Ives would do his composing in the evenings. He
wrote only to please his sense of music and didn’t have to depend on it
for a living. In 1918, he suffered a heart attack and was forced to give
up composing. Composer Henry Cowell became one of Ives’ champions in the
1920’s. Ives’ Third Symphony was completed in 1911, but it was
not performed until 1946. He earned the 1947 Pulitzer prize for this
work. He died in 1954, leaving a legacy that anticipated most of the
innovations of the 20th century, including atonality, polytonality,
microtones, multiple cross-rhythms, and tone cluster.

Variations on 'America'

Charles Ives composed his Variations on ‘America’ when he was
17 and working as church organist in his home town. Originally composed
for organ, the work was later popularized in a 1949 arrangement for
orchestra by William Schuman; William E. Rhoads provided the wind band
transcription in 1964. This composition of five variations represents
the earliest known example of musical polytonality. They are humorous in
character and full of surprises. He used his musical unorthodoxy to
assert his independence from the genteel musical life of 19th century
New England, while demonstrating his ability to be a “cut up” to his
male peers. He was also asserting his devout patriotism.

Gordon Jacob was born in London on July 5, 1895 and died in Saffron
Walden, England, on June 8, 1984. He received his education from
both Dulwich College and the Royal College of Music, earning a Doctor of
Music degree in 1935. From 1926, he was a member of the faculty at the
latter institution and taught counterpoint, orchestration, and
composition. A long line of his composition students, including Malcolm
Arnold, Antony Hopkins, and Bernard Stevens, went on to successful
careers. His orchestral and choral works include a ballet, concert
overture, two symphonies, numerous concertos for wind and string
instruments, many pedagogic works for piano and for chorus and a variety
of chamber works, songs, and film music.

An Original Suite for Military Band

An Original Suite was Jacob's first work for the band medium
and was completed in 1928. It is assumed that the word "original" in the
title was to distinguish it from transcriptions that made up the bulk of
the band repertoire at the time or to alert listeners that the "folk
song" themes were original. The suite begins with a March and
includes four themes introduced by a snare drum solo. There is a
recapitulation of the opening theme played over a distinctively British
dotted eighth-sixteenth accompaniment, and the movement ends as it began
with an unaccompanied snare drum. The Intermezzo opens with a
seventeen bar solo for alto saxophone and ends with a somber A-minor
triad. A rubato tempo is prevalent and subtle shading of tone
pervades the movement. The Finale is reminiscent of the first
movement. It begins with a polymeter - the clarinets and saxophones play
scale passages in 6/8 while the rest of the band is in 2/4. The finale Coda
repeats the second theme of the movement and finishes with a flourish of
woodwind arpeggios to the final accented chords.

Giles Farnaby Suite

The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book is a treasure trove of late
Renaissance and very early Baroque keyboard music. A virginal is a small
type of harpsichord with the plucked strings running parallel to the
keyboard. However, the term was widely applied to denote any quilled
keyboard instrument. The virginal was a favorite of English monarchs
that included Henry VIII, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth I. Following royal
fashion, the playing of the virginal became popular with English
society. The compilation takes its name from Viscount Fitzwilliam, who
bequeathed the manuscript collection to Cambridge University in 1816.
Its more than 300 pieces date from approximately 1562 to 1612 from many
composers including John Bull, William Byrd, Peter Philips, and Giles
Farnaby. Farnaby (ca. 1560 - 1640) is represented with 51 of his 52
known works. It is said that his music was endowed with a grace and
verve that is more accommodating to the modern listener than the music
of his contemporaries.

Gordon Jacob, one of the most respected British composers of the 20th
Century, has skillfully taken 11 short compositions by Farnaby and
interpreted them for the modern wind band. The tunes reflect several
classes of song and dance varying in rhythm, tempo, and style. As such,
each concludes with a long chord that might denote when lords and ladies
would bow or curtsey to their partner. Not much is known about the
meaning of the titles of each movement of the Suite. The Old
Spagnoletta is a late 16th century Italian dance in triple meter
in the older style of the two by Farnaby in the Book. His
Rest is in the form of a Galliard. Shakespeare’s use of “humour”
indicated a wayward fantasy that didn’t match any standard dance style.
Originally a rapid passage for two hands, Rosasolis refers to a
cordial flavored with juice from the sundew plant, commonly found in
bogs, mixed with other herbs and spices. Not an article of recreation, A
Toye is of a small class of dance pieces that are unpretentious. Tower
Hill honors the regal balls that took place within the battlements
on an elevated spot adjacent to the River Thames.

When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Patrick S. Gilmore is credited with composing the original version of When
Johnny Comes Marching Home in 1863, when he served as bandmaster
for the Union Army. There is a similarity to the Irish song Johnny I
Hardly Knew Ye, which is a tale of a maimed soldier returning from
the war. The brass figure prominently in this Gordon Jacob arrangement.
Jacob retards the tempo and passes the melody between the flute and oboe
before returning to the initial tempo with a shift in key that builds
tension and reminds us of the tragedy of war. The ending is a fanfare
that celebrates the returning war heros. Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore was
born in Ballygar, County Galway, Ireland, in 1829. September 24, 1992
marked the centennial of his death. The U. S. Postal Service issued a
commemorative stamp on that date to honor the man acknowledged as the
Father of the American Concert Band.

William Byrd Suite

William Byrd (1542 - 1623), a pupil of Thomas Tallis, was known for his
polyphonic choral and keyboard music, both sacred and secular. His works
were preserved in the “Fitzwilliam Virginal Book,” which is a
significant reference work on Elizabethan keyboard music. The 300th
anniversary of Byrd’s death was celebrated in 1923 with appropriate
performances of his music. Gordon Jacob selected six of Byrd’s pieces
for inclusion in his commerative Suite. The opening movement, The
Earle of Oxford’s Marche, was Byrd’s initial movement to The
Battell, a 16th Century program work of 15 movements depicting the
participants and events of a battle. The music flows to a steady,
stately beat adding dignity to the event. Characteristic of this and all
of the movements is the harmonic chord conclusion. The Pavana
has the slow duple rhythm of the stately court dance. Jhon Come
Kisse Me Now has a flirtatious vitality often found in the English
madrigals. It possesses seven variations of an eight-bar tune. Beginning
simply in the brass, The Mayden’s Song develops in content with
conterpoint and embellished figures while retaining the style of the
original. Instrumental texture provides variation to the simple melody
of Wolsey’s Wilde. A simple rising two-note figure provides the
background for the final movement, The Bells. Variations of a
simple rhythmic figure of the bells, all keyed in B-flat, unfold as the
music develops interest and momentum.

Wind in the Reeds

Wind in the Reeds is a suite
in four movements written for clarinet choir. Completed in 1983, a
little more than a year before the end of Jacob’s life, it was dedicated
to British Federation of Music Festivals, who commissioned the work with
financial assistance from the Yorkshire Arts Association. The first
movement, March, keeps a
steady pace with interesting changes in theme. A light and fanciful mood
fills the Humoreske. A
Childhood Memory is relaxing and easy flowing as a summertime
river or billowy clouds in a blue sky. Jacob heard a lot of Russian
music at Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe
during its two seasons in London during his student days. The concluding
movement includes changing moods and tempos that characterized that
ballet company.

Robert Jager was born in Binghamton, New York in 1939 and received his
education at The University of Michigan. For four years, he served as
the Staff Arranger at the Armed Forces School of Music while a member of
the United States Navy. Currently, he is Professor of Music and Director
of Theory and Composition at Tennessee Technological University in
Cookeville, Tennessee. Jager has over 65 published compositions for
band, orchestra and various chamber groupings, with more than
thirty-five com­missions including the United States Marine Band and the
Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. He has won a number of awards for his music,
being the only three-time winner of the American Bandmasters
Association's “Ostwald Award.” In addition, he has won the “Roth Award”
twice (National School Orchestra Association); received Kappa Kappa
Psi's “Distinguished Service to Music Medal” in the area of composition
in 1973 and won the 1975 “Friends of Harvey Gaul” bicentennial
competition. He is a member of Phi Mu Alpha, Kappa Kappa Psi, the
American Bandmasters Associa­tion, and ASCAP. He is an active composer,
conductor, and lecturer throughout the United States, as well as in
Canada, Europe, and Japan.

Diamond Variations

Written on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Illinois Concert
Band, Diamond Variations was dedicated to that ensemble and its
director, Mark H. Hindsley. The composer provides the following notes:

Diamond Variations is a set of five variations on the
trio melody of the march Illinois Loyalty. The variations are
not thematic as such, but rather based upon fragments of the melody ...
After a brief introduction the first variation presents a fragment of
the theme in the woodwinds in a light, bouncy manner. The second
variation is rather sinister with the horns and trombones in
counterpoint on another fragment of the theme. Tubas and euphoniums
begin the galloping third variation, which is full of flashing
instrumental colors. In contrast, the fourth variation is rather a
romantic approach to the thematic fragments. The fifth and final
variation begins deceptively light and simple, and gradually builds to a
brilliant climax by use of instrumental figures and harmonic tensions,
which find their resolution in the final four chords of the work.

Esprit de Corps

Based on The Marines' Hymn, this work is a kind of
fantasy-march, as well as a tribute to the United States Marine Band.
Full of energy and drama, the composition has its solemn moments and its
lighter moments (for example, the quasi-waltz in the middle of the
piece). The composer intends that this work should display the fervor
and virtuosity of the Marine Band and the musical spirit and integrity
of its conductor, Colonel John R. Bourgeois, for whom the initial tempo
marking, "Tempo di Bourgeois," is named. Colonel John Bourgeois is a
dramatic, spirited conductor, who reflects the excitement of the music
being played. When a tempo is supposed to be "bright" he makes sure it
is exactly that. Because the tempo of Esprit de Corps is to be
very bright, the marking just had to be "Tempo di Bourgeois!"

Heroic Saga

All of the material for this composition is derived from the dramatic
horn call of the opening. After a short introduction, the main section
of the work begins. The music is driving and forceful, allowing every
instrument of the band a chance to add to the excitement. After a
somewhat mysterious transition, a sort of love-ballad is heard, which
rises to a moving climax before subsiding to brief comments by various
solo instruments. The music then becomes less dramatic and more
dignified as it moves towards the conclusion, where solemn, yet majestic
chords confirm the triumph of the hero of our saga.

Sinfonia Nobilissima

The composer has provided the following program note:

This overture is a work in the neo-romantic style and is in
three sections. After a short introduction, a dramatic and syncopated
fast section begins. After several false climaxes, as well as a brief
fugue, the slow, more emo­tional middle section begins. In the final
section of the work, a fast, synco­pated style abruptly returns and the
overture ends with several deceptive, then complete chords.

Before deciding on music as a career, Philadelphian Joseph Willcox
Jenkins (b. 1928) received a pre-law degree at St. Joseph's College.
Jenkins studied composition under Vincent Persichetti at the
Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. He earned his Bachelor and Masters
of Music degrees at the Eastman School of Music and his Doctorate at the
Catholic University of America. Jenkins began his musical career as a
composer and arranger for the United States Army Field Bands and the
Armed Forces Network. In 1961, he became Professor of Theory and
Composition at Duquesne University, where he continues to teach, even in
retirement, as Professor Emeritus. He has received numerous prestigious
commissions and has nearly 200 original compositions, works for band,
orchestra, chorus, solo instruments and theatrical pieces, plus hundreds
more vocal and instrumental arrangements to his credit. Cumberland
Gap Overture earned the Ostwald Award in 1961. The ASCAP Serious
Music Award was awarded annually to Jenkins for nearly two consecutive
decades.

American Overture for Band

The opening measures of the American Overture for Band are some
of the most recognizable in the wind ensemble literature. The virtuosic
playing required, particularly by the French horn section, was quite
intentional by Jenkins, who was staff arranger for the United States
Army Field Band at Fort Meade, Maryland. In 1953, Colonel Chester E.
Whiting, conductor of the band, and the French horn section requested a
work that was more difficult and interesting than the usual military
fare of off-beats. Following the introduction, two themes alternate
throughout the work, often in unison across instrumental sections,
providing rich tonal color. The Overture never loses its
rhythmic energy and tests an ensemble’s ability to play with rapid and
clean articulation. Jenkins related that some of his inspiration came
from the impression Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra had had on
him as a teenager.

Census records place Scott Joplin’s birth in the northeastern corner
of Texas between July 1867 and January 1868. He was the second of six
children. His father, Jiles, a former slave who worked as a laborer,
played the violin and his mother, Florence, would sing and play the
banjo. Anecdotes relate that she cleaned the homes of white people in
Texarkana to give Scott access to a piano. Paying homage to his mother,
the heroine of Joplin’s unsuccessful opera Treemonisha,
published in 1911, earned her education through the efforts of her
parents in a white-owned home. Joplin’s musical talent was aided by the
efforts of German-born music teacher, Julius Weiss. As a teenager,
Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri, to attend Lincoln High School. At the
age of 23, he was leading a band and playing the cornet in Chicago at
the time of the World’s Fair. When not traveling with his vocal group,
Texas Medley Quartette, he worked in Sedalia as a pianist in the Maple
Leaf and Black 400 clubs. He had succeeded in publishing several songs,
rags, and a waltz by 1899. Some disappointments in that process moved
him to contact the a young Sedalia lawyer to draft an unusual, for that
time, contract with the local publisher for his next composition. Rather
than being paid an outright sum ($10-20), Joplin earned a one-cent
royalty for each sale. The popularity of his Maple Leaf Rag
earned him a small, but steady income for the rest of his life. By 1909,
about one-half million copies had been sold. His 1903 opera, A
Guest of Honor, portrayed Booker T. Washington’s dinner at the
White House two years before. Joplin’s rag, A Strenuous
Life, paid tribute to President Roosevelt for this momentous
occa­sion. In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City, where he would remain
for the rest of his life. There, he composed more ragtime jewels and
completed his second opera, Treemonisha, for which he
was posthumously awarded the 1976 Pulitzer Prize. The rise of jazz as a
new medium superseded rag­time. Suffering from the debilitating mental
and physical effects of syphilis, contracted several decades earlier,
Joplin died in a mental institution on April 1, 1917, the same day that
the United States entered World War I.

Rag-Time Dance

The end of the 19th century saw the rise of ragtime, a heavily
syncopated music form that had its roots in African-American music. It
was a time when new music was distributed through printed scores. In
1899, shortly after Joplin had sold what would become his most famous
piece, Maple Leaf Rag, he completed The Ragtime Dance.
It was a performance piece for four or eight couples with singing
narrator and pianist. This folk ballet illus­trated the types of dancing
that were done in the Maple Leaf and Black 400 clubs. The initial
publication did not fair well because it called for a voice range of
over an octave and a large number of dancers. Joplin revised the work in
1906 into a shortened version without dancers or vocal part; this is the
version performed today. Jonathan Elkus' transcription retains the
vary­ing nature of the original dance steps by trading the melody
through differ­ent sections of the ensemble.